National Football League

Dog trainer speaks out on ex-Pats linebacker's deceased pet

Published Aug. 15, 2018 12:44 p.m. ET

WRENTHAM, Mass. (AP) -- The trainer facing charges in the death of a dog that belonged to former New England Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo says she didn't cause the death and she cried "for what seemed like hours" when she found the pet dead.

Amelia Ferreira, of Cranston, Rhode Island, told the Sun Chronicle in an email Tuesday that she was a "coward" and "allowed fear to cloud my judgment and made decisions that hurt other people."

The 5-year-old English bulldog, called Knox, had been missing since June and was found dead in a trash bag inside Ferreira's home on Aug. 5.

The results of a necropsy were inconclusive but revealed no signs of trauma. Ferreira is charged in Rhode Island and Massachusetts with obstruction.

She said she found Knox dead in a crate.